Police are allegedly trying to shut down this weekend’s Keep Sydney Open Rally in Kings Cross

UPDATE: The NSW Police Commissioner has denied Keep Sydney Open the right to protest and Saturday’s rally will no longer be going ahead. This was revealed by Keep Sydney Open’s live stream from the Supreme Court, which you can watch in full below:

It has been revealed that the NSW Police are trying to prohibit this Saturday’s Keep Sydney Open rally in Kings Cross from going ahead. The case against the protest organisers is set to be decided in the NSW Supreme Court later today.

Police are allegedly trying to shut down this weekend’s Keep Sydney Open Rally in Kings Cross due to its nighttime setting and temporary closure of Darlinghurst Road.

Despite receiving a ‘Form 1’ Notice of Intention To Hold a Pubic Assembly on January 9, the Crown only filed proceedings against KeepSydneyOpen at 4:00 pm on Thursday, served at 6:00 pm.

The main reasons for police intervention are that the rally will be taking place at night and the temporary closure of Darlinghurst Road. However, Keep Sydney Open organisers believes that a successful challenge will set a dangerous precedent for similar legitimate protests to be staged in NSW in the future.

From the KSP press release:

“Particularly off the back of Mike Baird’s resignation, it’s more important than ever to protest Sydney‘s draconian and damaging lockouts. The incoming Premier needs to know how unpopular these laws are,” said Campaign Director Tyson Koh. “We are a nightlife advocacy group, so clearly rallying at night makes sense, and there is no doubting that Kings Cross is central to the lockouts issue so it’s highly pertinent we stage our protest there.”

“We have continually made it clear to NSW police that we are happy to work with them to find a time, location and duration for the rally that is suitable, but they have failed to reciprocate this offer of collaboration and not attempted to find alternate solutions,” said Koh. “KeepSydneyOpen has been filed against despite its history of safe protest, collaborative relationship with police, track record of effective crowd control and previous statements from police that note the good behaviour and compliance of our supporters.”

“The right to peaceful protest has been a cornerstone of the KeepSydneyOpen campaign, and we will vigorously fight for it on the behalf of everyone in NSW.”